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O Weber State University BIG SKY 3-0. Women's soccer jj team -f excelling. The '" TV .1 See page 12 I'f'J. 1 Volume 66 Issue 31 Monday, October 20, 2003 wsusignpost.com f f 3 V w Memorabilia portray reality of war Homecoming displays honor WW II veterans By Natalie Cutler news editor The Signpost More than 50 years ago Weber State University students, faculty and staff left their homesjobs, school and loved ones to serve in different factions of the U.S. military during World War II. These WSU veterans are being honored this week through different Homecoming events and highlights, including WWII memorabilia displays. Majorie Crittenden was a WSU student at the time of the war and is now serving on the Emeriti Council and working on the memorabilia committee for WWII Homecoming displays. "One reason I wanted to help was because I came from that era and I know a lot of those fellows," Crittenden said. "I went to school with them." Crittenden has helped with the displays for two months. They are located in the Shepherd Union Building, in the t.1" ! " rr f ' iu ; I .'. 3 ' -if -9 i r ) - w I " s ' J so , I ' - - ' -- . . - ii . 1 War circumstances changed, students' opinions have not A student walks through the bridge, which has been decorated with WWII reminders such as newspapers and photos from that era. Lindquist Alumni Center Library and on the SUB bridge. They display uniforms, guns, bayonets, flags and more. In the alumni house library, women's fashions from the same time period are on display."We're trying hard to get stuff out where people can see it," Crittenden said. "We wanted to create interest and honor those people." Photographs and stories are also on display. "There is one picture on display that shows all that were recruited and swom in on one day from the college," Crittenden said. "There were 50 or so. I've been thinking of the dances and assemblies and just associating with these See Memorabilia page 20 1Cp3sjs? s: : '"is it ' f V ' - - - ' n Get ready for launch Adam Figueria launches a softball i Thursday while pro- 0 fessor Kirk Hagen watches. The soft-5 ball launching was to test the product 1 of MET 1000 class 5 students' efforts to 2 build a catapult. The balls flew between h 40 and 160 feet. By Maria Villasenor asst. news editor The Signpost On March 21, Operation Iraqi Freedom began to split opinions for and against. Seven months have passed; the war has officially ended; reconstruction has begun; terrorists attack civilians, military personnel and diplomats continuously; and many Weber State University students still hold to their prewar opinions. "My position has essentially not changed," said James Lux, WSU senior who has opposed the war since early March. "Being there has only strengthened that." Last spring, WSU participated in the "Lysistrata Project," an event to protest the upcoming war, in which students, faculty and staff read from the "Lysistrata." Lux watched the play and told The Signpost how it related to the war. "I think it shows in probably one of the most dramatic ways that war is stupid and that there are more important things, and that it takes people with more sense to see that," Lux said in March. Lux said the imminent threat Saddam Hussein was said to have posed has not been proven. "The fact is that we went in for the wrong reasons," he said. Now, however, his focus is on the current situation. "We need to look forward to see what we're going to do for these people," Lux said. In April, Bryan J. Palmer, a senior, wrote a letter to the editor in support of the war. He wrote: "Before the war in Iraq started I was very confident in the ability of the United States to win, win big, and win with few casualties on both sides. I based this on confidence in the Bush administration, and the fact that the Iraqi people really wanted to be liberated. Despite my optimism, 1 am shocked by how successful everything has gone so far." He said he still agrees with the war. "I don't really see anything . different now, in the reasons for supporting going into war, than there were before the war started," he said. "I think a lot of people that have changed their position are a little bit impatient, but, maybe don't understand the realities of war." The current course of action is exactly what Palmer said should be happening. "I think that we should support Iraq on the road to a constitutional government, like they are doing,"he said. "And it'll take several years and it's going to take some money, but 1 think that if we help them, it will be worthwhile in terms of bringing additional economic stability in the Middle East, as well as having another ally apart from Israel; and not to mention all the human rights that the people who live there will have." Brenda Preece, senior, had a different idea on the war. "The United States shouldn't be going into any country and establishing troops," Preece said. "It should be international or not at all. I'm embarrassed by what they did." She said the point of getting rid of Hussein was to save humanity, so the United States should concentrate on humanitarian issues. She added that the United States should leave Iraq and not put U.S. officials, especially military officials, in charge. See War page 21 Juvenile death penalty provokes discussion on campus By Geoff Liesik correspondent The Signpost Last Thursday at Convocations, an audience of nearly 150 people was introduced to a slightly-built, bed-wetting, boxcar tramp nicknamed "Kansas Charley." But Charles "Kansas Charley" Miller was not at Weber State University for the introduction; he has been dead for more than 100 years. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Cornell University professor of human development and author of "Kansas Charley," told the story of the throw-away youth who was executed for the 1890 double murder of two traveling companions inside a boxcar bound for Cheyenne, Wyo. "I tell Charley Miller's story not to glamorize him or his crime," Brumberg said. "The murders he committed were undeniably ugly, and merited serious punishment." Brumberg said her role in recounting the tragic tale of a teenager, orphaned at age 6 and executed 1 1 years later, is to bring into focus the similarities between the social, economic and political motivations present, even today, in the lives of kids who kill. Miller, who gave himself his hobo moniker, was living the fantasy life of a railroad tramp when he met his victims at a train depot in Nebraska, Brumberg said. After the two older boys, who were well-dressed and only, "playing at tramping," began to reject the 5-foot, 100-pound Miller, he reacted violently, shooting each of them at. close range in the head as they slept. The historical record shows that a jury of 12 men convicted Miller of the murders after less than an hour of del iberation.The judge sentenced Miller to die. After a fierce national debate involving poli- ticians, military officers and clergy, Miller was executed on the new gallows located inside the atrium of the Laramie County Courthouse on April 22, 1892, at the age of 17. Dr. L. Kay Gillespie, WSU criminal justice chair, who has written three books on capital punishment, including a detailed history of Lotah's condemned men, said Utah has never executed a person for crimes committed as a juvenile. Gillespie, a witness to the last five executions in Utah, as well as the federal execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, said one of the difficulties presented in convicting a juvenile of an offense punishable by death revolves around the mental ability of the accused. "The argument for a juvenile is that they have diminished capacity," said Gillespie, former member of the state's board of pardons and parole; "and if they have diminished capacity, then how can you hold them to the same standard as you would an adult." Gillespie said the trial of accused Washington, D.C. sniper Boyd Lee Malvo, who was 17 at the time he allegedly participated in last October's shooting spree that killed 10 people and wounded three others, will be a remarkable look at the application of death-penalty law to a person who committed his crimes as a juvenile. "The Malvo case that's going on is an interesting one," he said. "If they are goin to argue insanity because the juvenile was influenced by the older adult, then it seems it's goimj to be hard to ever execute a juvenile." Michelle Heward knows firsthand the challenges of prosecuting juveniles in the adult system. As a former deputy district attorney assigned to Second District Juvenile Court forthree-and-a-half years, the WSU criminal justice professor was involved in at least 20 cases where juve- 1 5 Joan Jacobs Brumberg discusses the death penalty on campus Thursday. niles were tried as adults. "It's got to be a really serious offense to get them into the adult system, because the adult system is not going to rehabilitate a juvenile," Heward said. "When you look at the ability for See Discussion page 18

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O Weber State University BIG SKY 3-0. Women's soccer jj team -f excelling. The '" TV .1 See page 12 I'f'J. 1 Volume 66 Issue 31 Monday, October 20, 2003 wsusignpost.com f f 3 V w Memorabilia portray reality of war Homecoming displays honor WW II veterans By Natalie Cutler news editor The Signpost More than 50 years ago Weber State University students, faculty and staff left their homesjobs, school and loved ones to serve in different factions of the U.S. military during World War II. These WSU veterans are being honored this week through different Homecoming events and highlights, including WWII memorabilia displays. Majorie Crittenden was a WSU student at the time of the war and is now serving on the Emeriti Council and working on the memorabilia committee for WWII Homecoming displays. "One reason I wanted to help was because I came from that era and I know a lot of those fellows," Crittenden said. "I went to school with them." Crittenden has helped with the displays for two months. They are located in the Shepherd Union Building, in the t.1" ! " rr f ' iu ; I .'. 3 ' -if -9 i r ) - w I " s ' J so , I ' - - ' -- . . - ii . 1 War circumstances changed, students' opinions have not A student walks through the bridge, which has been decorated with WWII reminders such as newspapers and photos from that era. Lindquist Alumni Center Library and on the SUB bridge. They display uniforms, guns, bayonets, flags and more. In the alumni house library, women's fashions from the same time period are on display."We're trying hard to get stuff out where people can see it," Crittenden said. "We wanted to create interest and honor those people." Photographs and stories are also on display. "There is one picture on display that shows all that were recruited and swom in on one day from the college," Crittenden said. "There were 50 or so. I've been thinking of the dances and assemblies and just associating with these See Memorabilia page 20 1Cp3sjs? s: : '"is it ' f V ' - - - ' n Get ready for launch Adam Figueria launches a softball i Thursday while pro- 0 fessor Kirk Hagen watches. The soft-5 ball launching was to test the product 1 of MET 1000 class 5 students' efforts to 2 build a catapult. The balls flew between h 40 and 160 feet. By Maria Villasenor asst. news editor The Signpost On March 21, Operation Iraqi Freedom began to split opinions for and against. Seven months have passed; the war has officially ended; reconstruction has begun; terrorists attack civilians, military personnel and diplomats continuously; and many Weber State University students still hold to their prewar opinions. "My position has essentially not changed," said James Lux, WSU senior who has opposed the war since early March. "Being there has only strengthened that." Last spring, WSU participated in the "Lysistrata Project," an event to protest the upcoming war, in which students, faculty and staff read from the "Lysistrata." Lux watched the play and told The Signpost how it related to the war. "I think it shows in probably one of the most dramatic ways that war is stupid and that there are more important things, and that it takes people with more sense to see that," Lux said in March. Lux said the imminent threat Saddam Hussein was said to have posed has not been proven. "The fact is that we went in for the wrong reasons," he said. Now, however, his focus is on the current situation. "We need to look forward to see what we're going to do for these people," Lux said. In April, Bryan J. Palmer, a senior, wrote a letter to the editor in support of the war. He wrote: "Before the war in Iraq started I was very confident in the ability of the United States to win, win big, and win with few casualties on both sides. I based this on confidence in the Bush administration, and the fact that the Iraqi people really wanted to be liberated. Despite my optimism, 1 am shocked by how successful everything has gone so far." He said he still agrees with the war. "I don't really see anything . different now, in the reasons for supporting going into war, than there were before the war started," he said. "I think a lot of people that have changed their position are a little bit impatient, but, maybe don't understand the realities of war." The current course of action is exactly what Palmer said should be happening. "I think that we should support Iraq on the road to a constitutional government, like they are doing,"he said. "And it'll take several years and it's going to take some money, but 1 think that if we help them, it will be worthwhile in terms of bringing additional economic stability in the Middle East, as well as having another ally apart from Israel; and not to mention all the human rights that the people who live there will have." Brenda Preece, senior, had a different idea on the war. "The United States shouldn't be going into any country and establishing troops," Preece said. "It should be international or not at all. I'm embarrassed by what they did." She said the point of getting rid of Hussein was to save humanity, so the United States should concentrate on humanitarian issues. She added that the United States should leave Iraq and not put U.S. officials, especially military officials, in charge. See War page 21 Juvenile death penalty provokes discussion on campus By Geoff Liesik correspondent The Signpost Last Thursday at Convocations, an audience of nearly 150 people was introduced to a slightly-built, bed-wetting, boxcar tramp nicknamed "Kansas Charley." But Charles "Kansas Charley" Miller was not at Weber State University for the introduction; he has been dead for more than 100 years. Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Cornell University professor of human development and author of "Kansas Charley," told the story of the throw-away youth who was executed for the 1890 double murder of two traveling companions inside a boxcar bound for Cheyenne, Wyo. "I tell Charley Miller's story not to glamorize him or his crime," Brumberg said. "The murders he committed were undeniably ugly, and merited serious punishment." Brumberg said her role in recounting the tragic tale of a teenager, orphaned at age 6 and executed 1 1 years later, is to bring into focus the similarities between the social, economic and political motivations present, even today, in the lives of kids who kill. Miller, who gave himself his hobo moniker, was living the fantasy life of a railroad tramp when he met his victims at a train depot in Nebraska, Brumberg said. After the two older boys, who were well-dressed and only, "playing at tramping," began to reject the 5-foot, 100-pound Miller, he reacted violently, shooting each of them at. close range in the head as they slept. The historical record shows that a jury of 12 men convicted Miller of the murders after less than an hour of del iberation.The judge sentenced Miller to die. After a fierce national debate involving poli- ticians, military officers and clergy, Miller was executed on the new gallows located inside the atrium of the Laramie County Courthouse on April 22, 1892, at the age of 17. Dr. L. Kay Gillespie, WSU criminal justice chair, who has written three books on capital punishment, including a detailed history of Lotah's condemned men, said Utah has never executed a person for crimes committed as a juvenile. Gillespie, a witness to the last five executions in Utah, as well as the federal execution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, said one of the difficulties presented in convicting a juvenile of an offense punishable by death revolves around the mental ability of the accused. "The argument for a juvenile is that they have diminished capacity," said Gillespie, former member of the state's board of pardons and parole; "and if they have diminished capacity, then how can you hold them to the same standard as you would an adult." Gillespie said the trial of accused Washington, D.C. sniper Boyd Lee Malvo, who was 17 at the time he allegedly participated in last October's shooting spree that killed 10 people and wounded three others, will be a remarkable look at the application of death-penalty law to a person who committed his crimes as a juvenile. "The Malvo case that's going on is an interesting one," he said. "If they are goin to argue insanity because the juvenile was influenced by the older adult, then it seems it's goimj to be hard to ever execute a juvenile." Michelle Heward knows firsthand the challenges of prosecuting juveniles in the adult system. As a former deputy district attorney assigned to Second District Juvenile Court forthree-and-a-half years, the WSU criminal justice professor was involved in at least 20 cases where juve- 1 5 Joan Jacobs Brumberg discusses the death penalty on campus Thursday. niles were tried as adults. "It's got to be a really serious offense to get them into the adult system, because the adult system is not going to rehabilitate a juvenile," Heward said. "When you look at the ability for See Discussion page 18